The branded new world

Now, there’s a reason I am not english and still I am writing in this language. I was born. I had ears and eyes, and I saw that most of was happening outside me was soon or later to become in contact with some english world, so I though I’d would have been good to learn that language as soon as possibile.

As a grownup, I see the picture a bit more widely. I see that all of the world is revolving around the US, which, as far as I am concerned is GOOD. I like american people, I love their practicality, their sincere simplicity and professionality. But… I am missing some point. Really. I need some starting point though. The planet will die. Or, well, the planet the HUMANS know will die, a lifeform of sort will survive. The question is if it will not be us, but something like a tardigrade, will it have time to develop into a form capable of archeology before the sun loses its power? This is not for granted because we know that the planet has withstood worse change in temperature than the ones we are bringing upon it, but not quite the same levels of carbon dioxide, as you may remember from Al Gore’s elevating crank. I guess no one is taking time to model this scenario, as there as far more impeding problems to address human computation to, but what if the planet will die too, by a series of chain reaction? That will be a hell of a results! Now, if I were a Hollywood director there will be a shot of a Coca Cola can being wiped away by a massive eruption, then a big google-earth like zoom out revealing the looks of our planet now much more similar to those of mars.

Whatever. Enough for sci-fi. But you see, dear american friends, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. As a degenerate time-waster I am a Stumble Upon user and I am more and more impressed at how many hits I get on environmental issues. Now I don’t want to go into detail, you have tons of material to look into on the net, I’d like to point out just one thing which is not known enough:

It’s an heavenly place, where plastic and fishes beautifully live together in harmony like, uh, Palestinians and Israeli. I’m not sure which is which, but I heard the plastic side is being supported but the world’s most powerful government (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Ok guys, we have problem. Now, we mush get busy solving it, don’t you agree? If not, come back in some time when you’ll agree. The problem is that big companies have the power to manipulate the goverment more than people do. They have way more power anyone had in history. Apple has the power to make millions out of products which are merely beautiful, they have the power to convince you that you need one. Not to mention Gucci, Prada or other brands, they have the power to convince you that it’s good you pay 500$ for a 35$-worth plastic bag here is the english transcript of an outstanding italian journalistic program, official site is here . And, most important, they have money they can give it to a politician, which will use them to convince other people that this time the Gucci shirt is HIM. People need him. Communication and marketing is such a powerful force that’s really really hard to control. You can do this experiment: for a couple of month, stop reading/watching any advertising, it will be really hard, almost impossible at the beginning, but you can try to convince yourself that you are not interested in that, that you don’t NEED that. After all if you NEED something you’ll just feel it, you don’t need someone to tell it to you. If you convince yourself of this avoiding advertising will be much, much easier, you’ll be more and more annoyed by ads and in some time you’ll notice a change: you’ll look with different eyes at that iPhone or that new SUV, you won’t feel that drive to get it. You’ll be closer to your nature, and happier.

But I won’t like to you, you won’t be happy for long. You’ll soon discover that this world is not made for you. It’ll be painful to see at how many people around you just waste their time and resources. Then you’ll realize that we have to choose a side.

Option 1: I don’t care. I don’t wanna struggle. I wanna follow my instincts without questioning them. I want that iPod. I wanna waste. I wanna destroy. I want to do everything a mindless species does: I wanna consume the habitat where I live until I can.

It’s ok, uh. Your choice. I don’t see any moral downside on that. I believe in no religion to tell you that you should not do this BUT i think you have to know what will happen. You’ll have to rely all life long on that drug, on the high given you but the first half hour you play with your new toy, or that first night showing off your last Prada outfit then BOOM, next day out again looking for a new shot. I hear you’re pretty serious with this Drug War thing, but why not bring it to an higher level and call it Addiction War. We are addict. I am an addict. I have an addiction to gaming and to laziness, I struggle and fight it on daily basis, but that’s only my choice: I could live with that, and find a dull job that allows me to nurture my addiction, but my own religion tells me that as a sentient being I can understand what happens to me and struggle for a change, for a better life and existence. That’s the drug I don’t wanna give up

Option 2: Do something. Struggle. Live.

I will quote J. F. Kennedy here: before thinking what your country can do for you, think what you can do for your country. I gave you a couple of ideas here that will hopefully help you. The first step is work on yourself: if you keep being a slave to the must-consume logic, you won’t be clear and you won’t be able to take action. As the sign on the plane says: if something bad happens, first help yourself, then help others. The way to help, it’s your choice. Unless you’re G. W. Bush, you don’t have a way to change thing from today to tomorrow and the bad news is: to become G. W. Bush, you have to grow like a bush. That is, like, feed on oil for your survival and at a certain point you’ll face a choice much harsher than the proposed one and you’ll have to choose the side which, in the end, will make you NOT WANT to pursue the original goal anymore. If you know a way out of this, let me know.
My idea is that WE ARE, and everything we do will have a meaning, collectively. Soon or later it will be clear which side humanity has chosen. If everything goes well enough I’ll live 60-70 years from now, so I’ll be able either to watch the first sign of inevitable decay or the first signs of rebirth. In any case, it doesn’t matter that much to my person. But I care. That’s my religion.